Find Me : The Poison Ivy Series Book One

Chapter 26

Iwake to the sound of Jax climbing into bed, his arms immediately wrapping around me and pulling me close to him. The heat of his body radiates from him, instantly warming my skin.

I sigh as his hands move to my hips, his movements slow and deliberate as he slips them under the soft fabric of my shirt. He rests one on my lower stomach while the other traces a lazy path across my skin.

“I was starting to think I’d be the one searching the city for you this time,” I say groggily, as sleep threatens to take me back under.

“If I didn’t know any better, love, I’d say you were worried about me,” he says, his breath hot on my ear. I sigh contently as the smell of leather and warm citrus wraps around me, comfort washing over me with his presence. But something else hits my senses, something I don’t recognize. I turn my head, trying to figure out what is different about him, but with the room dark I can’t make out any of his features.

As I shift towards him, our bodies now facing each other, a strong smell floods my senses. I scrunch my nose, trying to figure out what it is.

“What happened? You smell different… metallic. And clean. Something’s different.”

I’m suddenly alert.

“I’m touched you care for me so much that you’ve gone to the extent of memorizing my… smell,” he says, his smile audible. He takes a breath before continuing, “But it’s nothing, just a few stitches after an altercation with a disgruntled customer.”

“A few what?!” I jump out of his arms, reaching for the light beside the bed, the soft glow illuminating the room immediately.

I turn back to Jax, my eyes franticly searching for any cause of pain.

A cut above his eyebrow glares at me, its color an angry red, with deep mahogany crusted around it.

“I thought you said you had stitches?” I say, my voice coming out louder than I intend, concern heavy in my words.

“Oh, I do,” he retorts tiredly, his hand pointing to the cut on his face that I’m looking at. “This wasn’t deep enough for stitches, but the one on my back was.”

He turns over slowly and I gasp audibly at the sight as my hand covers my mouth. A row of stitches is visible across his back, slicing through one of his tattoos. My mind races, trying to comprehend how he ended up with such a wound.

“What happened to you?” I ask as my hands start to tremble and adrenaline and shock floods through my body.

“Someone tried to back out of a business arrangement. The bastard thought the easiest way to do that would be to kill me, but unfortunately for him, he wasn’t as quick with his knife as I was with mine.”

A chilling shiver runs down my spine as a weary smile crosses Jax’s face.

“Is that what you told the hospital when they stitched you up?”

“I didn’t go to the hospital.”

Noticing the confusion on my face he continues, “In my line of work, I can’t go to the hospital without drawing too much attention from law enforcement. The business has its own doctor on the payroll. It makes it easier when… incidents… like this happen. Less paper trial and private care. I’m okay though, love, truly.”

I crawl back across the bed and into his arms as he faces me once again.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you care about my well-being,” he says, and the corners of my mouth tilt up as I look at him and snuggle closer towards the heat of his body.

Jax kisses me lightly on my forehead as he absentmindedly plays with my hair.

“And what about you? How was the rest of your day?” he asks.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you care about me, Mr. Turner,” I say lightly.

“I don’t think there’s much more I could do to show you how much I care for you, love,” he whispers quietly.

“I care about you too, Jax,” I say, my voice is as quiet as his, my heart beating out of my chest as I come close to confessing just how much he means to me.

“But the things I care about—more than care about—tend to be taken from me.”

I hear the grief behind his words as he sighs heavily before running his hand over his face, whether to ward off exhaustion or bad memories I’m not sure.

“You’re afraid,” I state quietly.

“Of losing you? Nothing scares me more.”

His lips meet mine, and the gentleness of his embrace quickly gives way to urgency as he claims my mouth as his. His hands move, grabbing onto me as if he is truly afraid of losing me, and I surrender myself to him, matching the urgency of his movements.

Jax winces suddenly and I pull back quickly.

“Don’t stop, love,” he says, moving for me again.

“You’re in pain, Jax. I think that trumps these… activities.”

He smiles at me, a flicker of playfulness back in his eyes. “Maybe these activities will help distract me from the pain.”

“Nice try, but you need your rest. Your body needs to heal. I’m sure we can resume this in a few days”—I gesture between us—“but for now, sleep.”

“Well, this night isn’t exactly going how I thought it would,” he says, feigning frustration in his voice.

“I think we can both agree that your night stopped going the way you thought it would when you got stabbed,” I counter, rolling over so my back is towards him once again.

Jax grunts unceremoniously in response, but wraps around me nonetheless, looping a leg over one of mine, his arms drawing me into him tightly.

My eyelids shut effortlessly, and I feel completely at ease, held tightly in Jax’s embrace. The warm light of the lamp doesn’t disrupt my own drowsiness as I start to doze off. The sound of Jax’s heavy breathing confirms that sleep found him quickly, and I hope he can make it through the night without too much pain. His chest rises and falls against my back, rocking me gently as I begin to drift off. The last thing I think of before I surrender myself to my dreams is how beautiful it is to fall asleep wrapped in the arms of someone who cares about me. Of someone I love.